To have produced this introductory book in so short a time is a remarkable achievement by both the authors and the publishers. The sad fast, however, is that this is an introductory book, and as such tends to leave you waiting for more. The volume was put together with the assistance of Acorn, the company who designed and produced the BBC Micro, so it is very specifically related to that product.

The book is practical in nature, with lots of small examples to try out and problems to solve. The actual information content is not significantly more than that in the early version of the User Guide except that the facts have been arranged in a more readable form.

Although the book has some areas of weakness, it does stand up as an introduction but one hopes that the second volume will not be too long in coming.